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A company against which a sequestration order had been issued by the government under the Presidential Commission for Good Government (PCGG) twenty years ago has effectively been in hibernation for all those years. How does one run a company whose assets cannot be sold and whose income is controlled by people who care not one whit about its future?

This is what Manuel Montecillo, one of the lights of the legal profession has had to live through, when his clients – the Estate of Hans M. Menzi and Hans M. Menzi Holdings and Management, Inc. – were included in G.R. Nos. 152578, 154487 and 154518.

Montecillo, now 88, was an active partner in the Siguion Reyna Montecillo and Ongsiako Law Office. He was Hans Menzi’s lawyer and was thus named executor of the estate when the businessman (who was also an aide to President Ferdinand Marcos and who looked resplendent in his military uniform) died. Hans Menzi owned the Manila Bulletin, vast agricultural holdings in Mindanao and was a paper products manufacturer. The name "Menzi" was known to every student since that was the name on the back of the pad paper and the notebooks that he used in school. Everything, except the Bulletin, has greatly suffered from the sequestration.

Montecillo’s problems should have been over in 2002, when the Supreme Court ruled – with finality – that the Bulletin shares of Hans Menzi that were bought by the paper’s current owners were actually owned by Hans Menzi and, thus, "the 154,427 shares sold by the late Hans M. Menzi to U.S. Automotive Co., Inc." were not part of the "ill-gotten wealth of defendant Marcos spouses." Thus, "the sale therefore (is) valid and legal."

Other shares – those owned by Jose Y. Campos, Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. and Cesar C. Zalamea that totaled 198,052.5 shares – were transferred to HM Holdings and Management, Inc. on August 17, 1986 and sold by the Menzi company to Bulletin Publishing Corporation on February 21, 1987. The SC ruled that these shares were part of the ill-gotten wealth of Ferdinand Marcos. Thus, the Supreme Court forfeited to the government the money that Bulletin paid for these shares (which are in the form of time deposits with the Philtrust Bank).

That was supposed to be a final decision and Montecillo’s problems should have been over by then. But, appeals served to delay the execution of that decision. But three years later – in 2005 – the SC ruled again.

The Sandiganbayan noted in its recent and final January 17, 2008 decision that "there is no dispute that the Supreme Court’s November 23, 2005 decision became final and executory on February 10, 2006.

"What is being contested by the parties are the funds covered by CTDs Nos. 162828 and 162829 which were not included in the dispositive portion of the High Court’s Decision. Plaintiff Republic contends that the funds should be released to them by virtue of the PCGG Sequestration Order of February 12, 1987.

"Defendants counter in fine that the judgment of this Court, affirmed by the Supreme Court, which found only the funds covered by Philtrust CTD No. 136301 and certain shares of stock in Bulletin are ill-gotten, necessarily leads to the conclusion that all other assets of HMHMI that were subject of the writ of sequestration are not ill-gotten and, therefore, said assets, more specifically the proceeds of Philtrust CTD Nos. 162828 and 162829, should now be released and paid to HMHMI."

The Sandiganbayan also noted that on April 13, 1998, it "issued a resolution lifting PCGG’s order of February 12, 1987, sequestering or freezing HMHMI’s shares of stocks, assets, property, records and bank deposits on the ground of PCGG’s failure to show factual basis of its said order."

The Supreme Court also affirmed that order in 2002.

The travails of Manuel Montecillo were far from over in 2002. In fact, things got more and more complicated for him. The point to stress is the evil that sequestration brings with it. There was never any question that Hans Menzi owed his shares in the Bulletin. Why were these even sequestered?

We will continue with this narration in tomorrow’s column when things get more complicated and also more interesting.

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The decision of the Sandiganbayan a week ago ordered "Philtrust Bank to pay the Estate of Hans Menzi, through its Executor, Manuel G. Montecillo and Hans Menzi Holdings and Management Inc., the amount of ONE HUNDRED FIFTY TWO MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED TWENTY SIX THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED THIRTY SEVEN PESOS and 76/100 (P152,826,937.76) as of February 28, 2002 representing the proceeds of Time Deposit Nos. 162828 and 162829 and all accrued legal interests thereon from said date of February 28, 2002 until the whole amount is fully paid. SO ORDERED."

All in all, what Philtrust bank must pay the Menzi Estate, represented by its executor Manuel Montecillo and HMHMI is over P270 million representing the original amount (P152,826,937) and the 12 percent interest from February 28, 2002 that on February 28, 2007 already amounted to P106,978,856.42.

Will Montecillo and the Menzi Estate and MHMHI finally receive what is due them or will Philtrust Bank take this case back again to the Supreme Court for one more last desperate try?